Prime Cleveland Heights Location Open For Development

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH, 2/26/2018 - Cleveland Heights continues to be a desirable location for development and redevelopment. Situated just up the hill from University Circle, the Cleveland Clinic and a host of museums and cultural attractions, Cleveland Heights is a prime location for new businesses and residential dwellings.

Last week, the Cleveland Heights City Council authorized the issuance of a Request for Qualifications and Preliminary Development Proposals (RFQ/RFP) for the redevelopment of the Meadowbrook & Lee site, currently owned by the City. The site is located at 2223 Lee Road, in the heart of, and within easy walking distance to businesses in one of the City’s most popular and vibrant commercial districts - the Cedar Lee District. This dynamic, pedestrian-oriented area is the largest commercial district within the City, extending along a one mile corridor. Cedar Lee has an impressive variety of stores, restaurants, businesses and cultural assets including the Cedar Lee Theatre, the Cleveland Heights/University Heights Lee Road Library, Dobama Theatre, and the City’s own cultural gem, Cain Park.

The District is truly one of the Cleveland areas most vibrant shopping and dining experiences and the City believes this RFQ/RFP offers an excellent opportunity to create an amenity-filled development that will add to the unique character of the surrounding Cedar Lee neighborhood and the City.

Cleveland Heights seeks to partner with a qualified developer or development team possessing the vision, experience, and financial resources to carry out a wide-ranging development, and that is best suited to work collaboratively with the City to create and execute a development plan that accomplishes the goal of redeveloping this iconic site. The City welcomes and encourages highly creative ideas and approaches to create a dense, vibrant, pedestrian friendly and unique commercial, office, residential or potentially mixed-use development that leverages the placemaking opportunities of the site and the Cedar Lee District.

This RFQ/RFP was issued on February 26, 2018 and proposals will be accepted until Monday, April 16, 2018. At the conclusion of the evaluation process, which is to include interviews with selected development teams and presentations by finalists to City Council, the City anticipates entering into a Memorandum of Understanding followed by a Development Agreement with the selected development partner that will outline the roles and responsibilities of each party and establish timelines for completing the development.

Throughout the process, community outreach and communications will occur to hear from the current businesses and neighbors and to solicit their input and address their concerns.